Guide to Choosing the Best Parking Lot Lights

Choosing the best parking lot lights is a critical decision that will impact your property's functionality, safety and aesthetic appeal. For business owners, landlords and maintenance managers, providing well-lit, safe parking areas for tenants, employees and visitors is essential. A dimly lit or poorly maintained lot can negatively affect your image and potentially lead to liability issues. In contrast, the right lighting choices can enhance your property's safety and attractiveness.

This article walks through the fixture types used in parking lots and which suits which kind of lot. If you are after the technical side instead — wattage sizing, lumen levels, pole heights, spacing and code compliance — our LED parking lot lights buying guide covers that in detail. To go straight to product, browse LED area and parking lot lights.

By Warehouse Lighting

Exploring Your Options Pro Tips LED Parking Lot Light Retrofits Frequently Asked Questions

Start With LED

This part is settled. LED outperforms HID and metal halide on every measure that matters in a parking lot — commercial LED area lights are commonly rated between 50,000 and 100,000 hours, run roughly 70% more efficiently than the generation they replace, hold their output instead of fading, and distribute light more evenly with less glare. A 1,000-watt HID fixture is typically replaced by a 300-watt LED.

They also pair well with security cameras, which matters when a parking lot incident becomes a legal or insurance question.

For the full case including wattage equivalents by fixture size, see the buying guide. The rest of this article is about picking the right type of fixture.

Exploring Your Options for Outdoor Parking Lot Lights

When selecting the best parking lot lights, consider your space's practical needs and aesthetic preferences. While most outdoor parking lot lights feature modern, straightforward designs, there are versatile options available for various settings.

1. Shoebox Lights

Shoebox lights, known for their efficiency in illuminating vast areas, are among the best parking lot lights – though they can also be used for spaces like highways and streets. Shoebox lights are typically mounted on poles and can be adjusted to different angles, allowing for customizable and targeted lighting. This flexibility makes them effective for lighting large areas uniformly. They are also highly energy-efficient, especially when equipped with LED bulbs. Shoeboxes consume less power and have a longer operational life, reducing both energy costs and maintenance needs. A final great feature is their resilience against harsh weather conditions, making them a reliable lighting solution for outdoor environments.

This is the default choice for most commercial lots. Browse the full range of LED shoebox lights, or see them mounted as pole and fixture combination packages.

2. Security Lights

If you're looking for the best parking lot lights to keep your lot safely illuminated at all hours of the night, you'll want to look into picking up some security lights. Available in models with one, two or three heads, security lights offer excellent coverage and customization for your parking lot. Additionally, many have dimmable features, providing the flexibility to suit different needs.

Dusk-to-dawn models with an integral photocell switch themselves on and off with ambient light, which takes the lot lighting out of anyone's opening and closing routine.

3. Outdoor Wall Lights

Outdoor wall lights are also a great choice for parking lot lighting. These fixtures can complement your lot's main lighting as people transition from the parking area to your building. Perfect for use around building perimeters, outdoor wall lights enhance visibility along walkways and entrances, improving safety. Our durable die-cast aluminum wall packs are designed to withstand harsh weather, ensuring longevity and reliability.

For a covered or multi-storey structure rather than an open lot, see commercial parking garage lighting. Where glare or spill onto a neighboring property is a concern, cutoff wall packs throw their light down rather than sideways.

4. Architectural Area Lights

Architectural area lights are crafted with a focus on design, aiming to complement the architectural features of the surrounding environment. They come in various styles, shapes, and colors, allowing them to serve as both a lighting source and a decorative element. These lights, often used for pathways and entryways, provide focused illumination and add an aesthetic element to the space. Their lower mounting height offers concentrated lighting, making them an integral part of finding the best parking lot lights for compact areas.

Post top fixtures are the usual pick for smaller lots, campuses and mixed-use developments where the fixture is visible at eye level and has to look intentional. Many are wattage and CCT selectable, so one part number covers several positions on the site — browse post top and architectural area lights.

5. Cobra Head Lights

Cobra head fixtures are the shape most people picture on a street light, and they suit access roads, entrance drives and the perimeter of a large lot. Their optics are built to throw light along a linear run rather than across an open square, so they complement shoeboxes rather than replace them.

6. Additional Components for Parking Lot Lights

When selecting the best parking lot lights, it's essential to consider not only the lights themselves but also the supporting infrastructure, including light poles and various accessories, to ensure a complete and effective lighting solution:

Parking Lot Light Poles: A key component in any parking lot lighting system, parking lot light poles support the light fixtures and elevate them to an appropriate height, ensuring optimal light distribution.
Light Pole Bullhorn Brackets: These accessories are instrumental in enhancing the functionality of your parking lot lights. Bullhorn brackets extend outward from the pole, allowing multiple lights to be mounted on a single pole. This design can significantly increase the area illuminated by each pole, making your lighting more efficient.

Pro Tips for Choosing the Best Parking Lot Lights

Selecting the best parking lot lights involves more than just picking the brightest option. It requires thoughtful consideration of various factors contributing to effective, efficient and durable outdoor lighting. We've compiled some pro tips highlighting a few vital aspects to assist you in this process. These insights will guide you in making informed decisions, ensuring that your parking lot is well-lit and optimally serviced by your lighting choices.

Light Uniformity: When it comes to parking lots, light uniformity is key. This refers to the consistent level of brightness throughout the area. A uniformity ratio of around 3:1 is ideal for optimal visibility in parking lots. Our experts can guide you in selecting lights with the appropriate uniformity rating to meet your needs.
Efficiency and Durability Matters: The best parking lot lights balance cost with performance and longevity. While it's tempting to opt for the lowest-priced options, the real value lies in choosing lights that offer both durability and energy efficiency. Investing in high-quality, commercial-grade parking lot lighting pays off in the long run, both for your team and your business.
Consider Fixture Mounts and Tenons: The compatibility of light fixtures with your existing poles is crucial. Our range includes standard configurations like "Y" and "X" to suit different lighting requirements. The amount and direction of light needed will guide your selection of the right mounts and tenons.

LED Parking Lot Light Retrofits

Retrofitting existing structures with LED parking lot lights is a smart move, even for buildings and lots originally outfitted before LEDs were standard. This process, known as "relighting," is a straightforward way to upgrade to brighter, more efficient lighting.

There are two levels to it. A lamp-level retrofit leaves the housing in place and swaps the HID lamp for an LED replacement — cheapest and fastest, but you keep the old optics and usually the old ballast. A fixture-level retrofit replaces the optical and electrical assembly inside the housing, which costs more but removes the ballast as a future failure point. If your poles and housings are sound, fixture-level is normally the better value over the life of the lot.

Browse our LED parking lot and street light retrofit kits, or if the housings are past saving, replace the fixture outright from LED area and parking lot lights.

Frequently Asked Questions: Choosing Parking Lot Light Fixtures

Questions we get most often about picking the right fixture type for a lot. For lumen levels, wattage sizing and pole heights, see the buying guide.

Which Fixture Type Should I Use for My Lot?

Start with the shape and size of the space. Large open lots are usually shoeboxes on poles. Access roads, entrance drives and perimeters suit cobra heads, whose optics throw light along a run rather than across a square. Smaller lots, campuses and mixed-use sites where the fixture is visible at eye level call for post top architectural fixtures. Wall packs handle the transition from the lot to the building, and security lights cover a lot overnight where even coverage matters less than presence.

Can I Mix Different Fixture Types in One Parking Lot?

Yes, and most sites should. A single fixture type rarely covers a whole property well. A typical commercial layout runs shoeboxes over the open parking area, cobra heads along the entrance drive, wall packs at the building line, and post top fixtures on any pedestrian pathway. Keep the color temperature consistent across all of them — mixing 4000K and 5000K fixtures on one lot is the most common thing that makes a professionally specified job look unplanned after dark.

What Fixture Should I Use for a Small Lot or a Single-Tenant Building?

Under roughly 20 spaces you often do not need pole-mounted area lights at all. Wall packs on the building, supplemented by a couple of post top fixtures along the walkway, will usually cover it and cost considerably less to install because there is no pole foundation work. Where the lot sits close to a residential property line, cutoff wall packs are worth specifying so light does not spill past the boundary.

Should Parking Lot Lights Be on Photocells, Timers or Both?

A photocell handles dusk and dawn automatically and adjusts for overcast days, which a timer cannot. Timers are useful on top of that when you want lighting to step down or shut off at a set hour after closing. Many commercial fixtures ship photocell-ready, so check the spec sheet before buying a separate control — and confirm whether your municipality requires reduced lighting after business hours, since some do.

You Can Find the Best Parking Lot Lights for Your Property Right Here at Warehouse-Lighting.com

Put your parking lot's safety, efficiency and aesthetic appeal first – find the best parking lot lights for business owners, landlords and maintenance managers at Warehouse-Lighting.com. Our selection of premium LED lighting solutions is designed to meet all your needs, combining state-of-the-art technology with cost-effectiveness and durability. Whether retrofitting an existing setup or installing a new lighting system, our expert team is ready to guide you through every step, ensuring you make the perfect choice for your space. Don't let inadequate lighting compromise the safety and appearance of your property. Shop the best parking lot lights at Warehouse-Lighting.com today.

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